Dismountable sailing boat



Oct. 13, 1959 R. LAINE DISMOUNTABLE SAILING BOAT Filed April 2, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet -1 INVENTOR Raymond 13/1/76 fl/w ATTORNEYS Oct. 13, 1959 LAlNE 2,908,239

. DISMOUNTABLE SAILING BOAT Filed April 2, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 t-W12 v INVENTOR Raymond Za/ne ATTORNEYS United States Patent DISMOUNTABLE SAILING BOAT Raymond Laine, Paris, France Application April 2, 1957, Serial No. 650,172

Claims priority, application France April 6, 1956 2 Claims. 01. 114-39 This invention has for its object to provide a light in weight sailing boat, the weight of which is of the order of 22 pounds to 44 pounds, said sailing boat being easily dismountable so that she may be disposed, when in a dismounted state, in the back trunk of a small automobile.

It is the general practice to rig rigid conventionally constructed canoes with sails which turn said craft into an actual small sailing boat and allow for a very satisfactory sailing.

On the contrary, pneumatic inflatable crafts, rigged with sails and known heretofore, are very bad sailing boats with which it is practically impossible to sail against the wind. This is particularly due to the fact that, on the one hand, it is very diflicult to fix rigidly a mast on such inflatable canoes and that, on the other hand, the latter show a dipped surface which is insufiicient to oppose effectively the leeway.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a sailing boat from an inflatable or flexible craft or canoe while giving her sailing properties matching those obtained with conventional sailing boats. The present invention has also for its object to provide sailing boats having a weight extremely low, which permits such sailing boats to realize high speeds and sail under the action of very weak winds.

Still, another object of the invention is to provide unsinkable sailing boats proving to be extremely safe.

This invention is characterized by the fact that there is provided an independent and rigid unit comprising a mast, a deck, a keel or centre-board with a rudder, and an attaching device such as a collar. Said rigid unit is made fast with the inflatable craft or canoe, the latter being used only for keeping afloat the complete sailing boat and her crew.

In other words, the inflatable craft acts only as a float for keeping afloat the independent unit just described which is used both for propelling and steering the whole of the craft. Such propelling-steering unit is, preferably, designed in a dismountable fashion, so as to have a minimum overall bulkiness.

Some possibilities of practicing the present invention will be now described, by way of example and without any limitation of the scope thereof and as mentioned in the appended claims comprising a form of the invention with reference to the annexed drawings.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the whole of the craft according to the invention;

Fig. 2 is a cross-section showing the attaching device for the deck, the mast and the centre-board; and

Fig. 3 is a perspective view showing the connection of the mast supporting collar to the floor.

There is shown in Fig. 1 the inflatable canoe 1 acting "ice as a float for the whole construction according to the invention. Said canoe comprises two cylindrical hollow pads or tubes 2 and 3 (Fig. 2) connected together at their ends to define a central opening or cockpit, the bottom of which cockpit is formed by a floor 4 made from a rubbered cloth or a plastic material connected at its edges to the tubes. A collar 5, which is constituted by two parts 5a, 5b connected by bolts 6, 7 tightly engages the inflatable tubes 2 and 3. To the bottom part of said collar 5 is fixed a centre-board 8 by means of lugs or projections 9, 10 and screws such as 11. A rudder 12, which is pivotally mounted to the rear part of said centre-board by hinges 13, 14, is actuated by means of two flexible cables 15, 16 connected to rudder arms 17 and 18. The collar 5 supports at top part thereof a deck 19 at the end 20 of which is fixed the jib guy 21.

On deck 19 is fixed an element 22 by means of externally threaded rods comprising wing nuts of which one is shown at 23, said element 22 being used on the one hand for fixedly attaching shrouds 24, and on the other hand for slidably directing at an angle the cables 15, 16 acting on the rudder 12 and extending to the rudder tiller 25 to which they are attached.

The collar 5 together with the deck 19 supports a bushing 26 used to set the mast 27 within the mast step thereof, said mast 27 being made in two parts 27a, 27b connected by means of a sleeve 28.

In the case of the arrangement shown in the drawings, the sail rigging used is of the sliding-gunter type comprising a yard 29 and a boom 30 which is pivotally mounted on said mast at 31.

A floor 32, preferably made of plywood, which bears against the bottom floor 4 of the inflatable canoe, is connected to the above-mentioned bushing 26 by means of an arm 33 pivotally mounted at 34. Said floor 32 allows for avoiding any distortion of the bottom floor or wall 4 when the crew is moving inside the craft.

The rear part of the centre-board 8 comprises an aperture 35, the surface of which being such that the centreboard surface is not too important, while permitting to offset sufliciently the rudder 12 rearwards so that the latter may act efliciently.

I claim:

1. A pneumatic sail boat comprising a centre-board, a rudder carried by one end of said centre-board, inflatable tube means defining a central opening, and a rigid vertical collar encircling said tube means and rigidly attached at its bottom to said centre-board, a floor fitting across the bottom of said central opening and firmly wedged be tween said tube means and the lower portion of said collar, a mast for supporting a main sail, and means for supporting said mast at longitudinally spaced points therealong, said means being rigidly attached to the upper portion of said collar and attached by rigid means to said floor, so as to form with said collar, floor, mast and centre-board a rigid propelling-steering unit.

*2. A pneumatic sail boat as claimed in claim 1, in which said collar consists of separable upper and lower parts, the centre-board being fixed to the lower part, and a deck member which serves as a bowsprit, together with means to which shroud lines may be:attached and on which guide cables for the rudder may be supported, being fixed to said upper part.

References Cited in the file of this patent Boyd Nov. 28, 1950 

